New In New York

Big Apple Offers Some Helpful Attractions To Visitors

And in fall, it's a great place to visit. New shows are opening on Broadway, there are new attractions, new hotels to check out.

Among those new attractions is a new Times Square Visitors Center. Times Square has shed its sleaze and has been restored, bringing back its luster as the "Crossroads of the World."

The new visitors center, located within the restored historic Embassy Theatre, is a good example of the area's restoration. It's "a perfect example of building the new Times Square on the roots of the old," said Gretchen Dykstra, president of the Times Square Business Improvement District, which operates the center.

Inside the center, you'll find ATMs for quick cash, a Broadway ticket center for full-price tickets, tickets to popular tourist attractions and sightseeing tours, Metrocards for public transportation (seven days of unlimited subway rides for $17 and free transfers from subway to bus) as well as transit memorabilia, free access to the Internet, a City Store featuring official NYC souvenirs, a video wall featuring the history of the square (complete with a simulated New Year's Eve ball drop), and hometown newspapers from around the world.

The center is ideally located. It's surrounded by 37 Broadway theaters (11.5 million people attend the shows every year, making Broadway the city's No. 1 tourist attractions) and 24 hotels, which account for a fifth of all the hotel rooms in the city.

And the center (at 1560 Broadway, between 46th and 47th Streets) is just across from the TKTS booth, which sells half-price tickets to Broadway shows. That booth, which sold more than 2.3 million tickets last year, celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this year.

The Embassy Theatre, built in 1925, was the last vintage Times Square cinema to present first-run movies. When it opened, it made history as the first and only movie theater in the United States managed and staffed solely by women, chosen for their age (17-21), their height (less than 5 feet 4 inches), their intelligence, their white teeth (no gold allowed) and their "ability to wear clothes with dignity."

And the city also has an old attraction with a new reason to visit. New York's answer to the great train stations of Europe is Grand Central Station, which is being rededicated after a two-year, $196 million restoration. It's grand again, and within its walls you'll find trains, shops, restaurants -- a grand place to meet, eat and greet.

Among new hotels is the Flatotel International (135 W. 52nd St. between 6th and 7th Avenues). This conveniently located 46-story property has some of the largest rooms available in Manhattan. The hotel is not to be confused with the Flatiron building; in this case, "flat" is used as in the British word for apartment. The hotel is part of a chain of European properties. Although it is not a bargain-priced hotel, a family of four can find a luxurious room for under $300. The hotel's one- and two-bedroom suites, slightly higher, feature oversized whirlpool tubs and a full-size, fully equipped kitchen (grocery delivery can be provided), right down to the serving utensils. The hotel also offers a fitness and business center. For information, call 800-FLATOTEL and ask about seasonal and weekend rates.

New York lodgings come in every price, from about $20 a night at the American Youth Hostel up to $15,000 to rest your head in the opulent 7,802-square-foot Presidential Suite of The Plaza Hotel. Although just about every hotel has a presidential suite, only one NYC property can claim that every president from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton has stayed within its walls -- that's the boutique Waldorf Towers that covers floors 26 through 42 of the Waldorf-Astoria. Its Presidential Suite, where Queen Elizabeth II and presidents have stayed, goes for a mere $7,000 a night.

The main question for most visitors, though, is how to find a room. With rooms at a premium, using a central reservation service is your best bet. These services include a wide range of properties from budget to luxury. Most offer better rates than the hotel itself may quote, and can find you rooms when the city seems booked solid. Most charge nothing for their service.

The New York Convention & Visitors Bureau is offering a Peak Season Hotel Hotline at 800-846-7666. The service is also on the Internet at www.nycvisit.com.. Among tips the bureau offers for finding rooms is to book early, be flexible, call a travel agent, and to try hotels in all areas of the city.

Among other services (all times for calling listed here are Chicago time):

Hotel Con-x-ions claims it has guaranteed availabilty; call 800-522-991 or 212-840-8686. The service is open daily 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and is closed Sundays.

Hotel Reservation Service also claims it will have rooms available, even if every hotel in the city is sold out; call 800-846-7666. Bob Diener, who operates the service, says the entire month of October will be tight, and Dec. 4-5 and 11-12 are complete sellouts.

For sightseeing in New York, pick up a CityPass booklet that cuts the cost of seeing major attractions from the Empire State Building Observatories to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. The pass is available at any of the six attractions (other locations are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, American Museum of Natural History, and the Top of the World Trade Center) and sells for $26.75 for adults, $18 for seniors, and $21 for those 13-18.

For more information on the city, call the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau at 800-NYC-VISIT. For personal assistance from multilingual information counselors, call 212-484-1222 Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.